When I looked into a new logo for Voices of the Past, I wanted something that represented both history and technology. I discovered the graphic above while visiting the Minnesota Archaeological Society website, and something about it struck me. Check out the tailfeather of the bird on the right. Does is remind you of any new media symbols out there? How about this one:

MAS, which uses the entire bird on the left for its logo, states on its website:

The inscriptions … are from a 1,000-year-old pot that was discovered in 1957 near Red Wing, Minnesota by an MAS member. The thunderbird motif is representative of Middle Mississippian iconography.

I love the thunderbird legend and its symbolic meanings of courage, transformation, and victory so much that it remains my one and only tattoo.

Did Native Americans first conceptualize RSS 1,000 years ago? I’ll leave that to the conspiracy theorists 😉 But it did inspire me enough to use it as the basis for the logo Voices of the Past has today.